NSA Opposes Drug Importation Legislation

Alexandria, VA -- At its Annual Conference this past June in Reno, NV, the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) adopted a Resolution opposing drug importation legislation which jeopardizes law enforcement’s ability to protect the public health and that endangers the safety of law enforcement and other first responders.

The Resolution, initiated by NSA’s Drug Enforcement Committee, noted that the number of drug overdose deaths in 2016 represented the largest annual increase ever recorded in the United States, which is a consequence of the escalating opioid addiction crisis. Furthermore, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports that the arrival of wholesale amounts of counterfeit prescription drugs containing fentanyl (fueled by China-sourced fentanyl into the U.S. via Canada and Mexico) will result in an increase in overdoses, deaths, and opiate-dependent individuals. Moreover, drug traffickers are now expanding the fentanyl market beyond opiates to other counterfeit prescription medications and the DEA warns law enforcement and other first responders that exposure to even minimal amounts of fentanyl can have deadly consequences.

In the June 2017 “Report on the Potential Impact of Drug Importation Proposals on U.S. Law Enforcement,” former FBI Director Louis Freeh concluded that drug importation proposals “would force law enforcement agencies to make tough prioritization decisions that leave the safety of the U.S. prescription drug supply vulnerable to criminals seeking to harm patients.”

Accordingly, NSA opposes the passage of legislative drug importation proposals which would jeopardize law enforcement’s ability to protect the public health; threaten the safety of our drug supply; and endanger law enforcement officers, their canines, other first responders.